It took so long because its original but it'll make millions in first two days says 3DRealms

By now, almost every gamer has heard about Duke Nukem Forever (DNF), a
title that was herald as the next great first person shooter. The game
was suppose to be released back in the 90's and was suppose to be the
hot successor to Duke Nukem 3D -- a game that became a classic in its
own right. DNF arguably had a lot to live up to. Duke 3D had become a
pop culture icon, with the protagonist throwing out memorable lines
during a fire fight and the game itself delivering a unique style of
game play.

It's now eight years later and with an investment of nearly
$8M USD, DNF is still not finished -- but it's almost done, says Scott
Miller, CEO of 3D Realms. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter,
Miller explains that his company focuses on original IP, or
intellectual property. This is to say that 3D Realms develops only
original game ideas and game content. The company does not take ideas
out of movies, or any other type of source to develop their games. We
won't be seeing a Spiderman game, an X-Men game, a Matrix game, or any
sort of Hollywood rip-off here; just original creativity says Miller,
and this is why it's taking DNF so long to be released.
When asked by THR
if a game should take as long as DNF took to complete, Miller responded
"It shouldn't. And I'm dumbfounded myself. A huge part of the problem
is that it's really hard hiring good developers to come to Dallas. This
place used to be a hotbed of game development. But, nowadays, people
seem to want to go to Austin instead. Plus we have this reputation now
-- that our games don't ever come out, so ...
"

Miller also speaks about 3D Realm's other greatly anticipated game,
Prey. The game is another 3D first person shooter but is much further
along in its release schedule than DNF. In fact, Miller says that Prey
was under development for nearly 4.5 years. According to 3D Realms,
Prey will be available for both the XBOX 360 and the PC.

Update 05/12/2006: The title and summary have been corrected to better reflect Miller's statements.

"The Space Elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing" -- Sir Arthur C. Clarke